This invention relates to a safety needle and in particular to safety needle pack.
Needle stick injuries carry a significant risk of spreading infection, such as HIV and hepatitis, and are commonplace among healthcare workers. The USA has led the way in introducing legislation that obliges healthcare providers to use the safest devices when giving injections, intravenous drug administration and similar invasive procedures. Other countries are following and, even without legislation, the ever-present risk of litigation has alerted pharmaceutical companies and health authorities to seek suitable safe devices.
As a result of the heightened awareness of needle stick injuries, there have been a large number of inventions addressing this issue, some more successful than others. Most take the form of a protective sleeve which covers the needle tip after the injection has been given, or means for retracting the needle rapidly into the syringe barrel. Such a safety needles are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,693, U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,940 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,384.
A common requirement for drug administration is to draw the drug from a vial or bulk container, or first reconstitute a lyophilised drug, and then draw up the required volume of drug from the reconstitution vessel. Good practice demands that separate needles are used for such procedures, to avoid contamination and “coring” of the rubber vial closure, and from a practical viewpoint, the needle used to draw up the drug usually will be larger than the delivery needle.
Often it is required for the needle tip to be visible prior to giving the injection because frequently a small amount of drug must be aspirated to clear out trapped air, and to correct the volume after drawing up the drug from a bulk container. Also, two of the most common types of injection given are intradermal and intravenous, and both require that the needle tip be visible to ensure that the tip is inserted into the tissues or vein bevel-side up.
It is particularly problematic to provide a low-cost needle which is able to prevent needle stick injuries, whilst allowing the tip of the needle to be visible during injection. At present there are no such devices on the market. There is therefore a need for a low cost safety needle which prevents needle stick injuries in healthcare workers but allows the tip of the needle to be exposed.